Japan’s Nissan Motor Co NSANY will spend about $700 million at two U.S. manufacturing plants to implement new technologies to make electric vehicles, Bloomberg News reported, citing a company executive.
What Happened: The new investment is part of a $1.2 billion global investment that aims to make the legacy automaker’s global factories more efficient, less polluting and ready to produce next-generation cars such as electric vehicles.
The Nissan plants in Canton, Mississippi and Smyrna, Tennessee are said to be part of the ramp-up.
The latest move is part of Nissan’s “Intelligent Factory Initiative,” through which the company has installed advanced equipment at its Tochigi plant north of Tokyo over the past two years.
Nissan now aims to bring those ramp-ups to other global locations. The automaker plans to curb factory carbon dioxide emissions by 41% in 2030 versus 2019 levels, as per the report.
The company intends to begin production of its Ariya electric vehicle at Tochigi this fiscal year. The crossover is one of the 12 new models that the automaker plans to launch as part of its Nissan Next turnaround plan.
See Also: GM’s Target To Double Revenue By 2030 'Achievable And Beatable': Wedbush
Why It Matters: Nissan is not alone as key legacy automakers in the U.S. are setting aside billions of dollars and are rushing to completely switch to a fully electric vehicle portfolio.
Both General Motors Co GM and Ford Motor Co F have recently updated their investment plans and allocated billions more towards electrification drive in the U.S. than originally planned.
The urgency to make changes is led by government pressure as well as a massive lead taken by market leader Tesla Inc TSLA.
Price Action: Nissan shares closed 0.62% higher at $9.69 a share on Friday.
Photo: Courtesy of Nissan
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